The Dog Days of Summer

We’ve been busy but it’s been a good busy. There’s nothing like piling on a bunch of projects to make the days fly by!

I signed Gabe up for swimming lessons and we agreed to pet sit for some friends while they are on (a three week) vacation. This means that for the entire month, up until now, we’ve been driving into Eureka every.single.day. It’s not far, but it is in the opposite direction from where everything else (chiro, music, shopping) is located. So that’s added an extra element of busy.

The pet sitting was good, though. The boys have been begging for guinea pigs for a while now and they got to take care of three of them for 3 weeks. I’ve not had another request since. Yes!

Swim lessons have plodded along. Gabe is afraid of the water and he is very hesitant, in general, to try new things. It’s made for a very frustrating experience. His attitude has improved, though. He no longer dreads lessons. I did get to work with him a bit, using our friend’s pool pass and even that little bit of extra time in the water did him some good and showed improvement. So that’s something. I’m hoping he’ll actually be able to swim by the time the pool closes.

A lot of progress was made on our outside project, but the the heat started in earnest and we abandoned the project. I covered the remaining grass with hideous blue tarps and am just ignoring it for now. I just cant.

So, of course, we started an indoor project. Gabe’s bedroom. We tore his room apart and then had to hustle to get it back together, somewhat, prior to Luke’s party. An in-depth post is in the works.

We spent the 4th with some new friends at church. They are the best hosts. The kids love their swimming pool. The husband worked at a fireworks stand and was paid in fireworks so it was an amazing show. We met another couple from church there who are new to the area and are also homeschoolers. A big group of us spent most of the night (after dinner and before fireworks) playing a new card game and we had so much fun.

On the 7th, we threw another birthday party for Luke and his friends. They all have passes to Six Flags so Ben took them there for a few hours and then they came back here for lunch, cake, ice cream and hanging out. Several of them stayed the night. They had a blast.

We played board games with Paul and Amanda on the 9th. I feel like we just don’t have time to hang out with them like we used to and I miss that. We’ve been on a good streak, though, with the games we play. Scythe is the big one we played that night and we all really liked it.

On Tuesday I did some office work at my chiro’s office. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned that before, but I helped out a bit while the main receptionist was on vacation and I’ve picked up a few hours here and there since then. Now, the receptionist is going to be scaling way back and another helper is on maternity leave so it looks like I may fill in on a more regular basis which will be good for me.

I took the boys swimming on Wed. the 12th. It was a subdivision pool so there were only a handful of people there. Luke brought a friend so they entertained each other while Gabe and I practiced jumping in the pool, floating, and putting our heads under. Gabe made huge progress and really enjoyed his time. It was blazing hot and I ended up burning a bit, but it was such a good time.

The next day, Thursday, the boys and I went out to Shaw Nature Reserve for a geocaching class. I’ll do a separate post on that.

This past weekend was fairly chill. I wasn’t feeling great. I volunteered, as usual, at the thrift store. Then I settled in for a movie while Ben took the boys to see Despicable Me 3 and then to dinner at Red Robin’s.

Sunday, after church, Ben and I made another trip to IKEA to grab the right curtain rod. Then we installed the curtains in Gabe’s room and Ben patched up the holes in the closet where the junky doors used to be. Now we just need to get his shelves back on the wall and figure out a light fixture. Maybe paint the closet. Then we’ll be done in there!

So, that’s what we’ve been up to, in a nutshell. I feel like it’s been a little bit of everything these past 2 weeks, but things should slow down now. Our friends are back from their vacation, for one. I’m hoping for a more relaxed summer from here on out!